The Nexus between Fire and Soil Bacterial Diversity in the African Miombo Woodlands of Niassa Special Reserve, Mozambique

(1) Background: the Miombo woodlands comprise the most important vegetation from southern Africa and are dominated by tree legumes with an ecology highly driven by fires. Here, we report on the characterization of bacterial communities from the rhizosphere of <i>Brachystegia boehmii</i>...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ivete Sandra Alberto Maquia, Paula Fareleira, Isabel Videira e. Castro, Ricardo Soares, Denise R. A. Brito, Aires Afonso Mbanze, Aniceto Chaúque, Cristina Máguas, Obinna T. Ezeokoli, Natasha Sofia Ribeiro, Isabel Marques, Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
Series:Microorganisms
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/8/1562
Description
Summary:(1) Background: the Miombo woodlands comprise the most important vegetation from southern Africa and are dominated by tree legumes with an ecology highly driven by fires. Here, we report on the characterization of bacterial communities from the rhizosphere of <i>Brachystegia boehmii</i> in different soil types from areas subjected to different regimes. (2) Methods: bacterial communities were identified through Illumina MiSeq sequencing (16S rRNA). <i>Vigna unguiculata</i> was used as a trap to capture nitrogen-fixing bacteria and culture-dependent methods in selective media were used to isolate plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB). PGP traits were analysed and molecular taxonomy of the purified isolates was performed. (3) Results: Bacterial communities in the Miombo rhizosphere are highly diverse and driven by soil type and fire regime. Independent of the soil or fire regime, the functional diversity was high, and the different consortia maintained the general functions. A diverse pool of diazotrophs was isolated, and included symbiotic (e.g., <i>Mesorhizobium</i> sp., <i>Neorhizobium galegae</i>, <i>Rhizobium</i> sp., and <i>Ensifer</i> adhaerens), and non-symbiotic (e.g., <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp., <i>Burkholderia</i> sp., <i>Cohnella</i> sp., <i>Microvirga</i> sp., <i>Pseudomonas</i> sp., and <i>Stenotrophomonas</i> sp.) bacteria. Several isolates presented cumulative PGP traits. (4) Conclusions: Although the dynamics of bacterial communities from the Miombo rhizosphere is driven by fire, the maintenance of high levels of diversity and functions remain unchanged, constituting a source of promising bacteria in terms of plant-beneficial activities such as mobilization and acquisition of nutrients, mitigation of abiotic stress, and modulation of plant hormone levels.
ISSN:2076-2607